


i just want to start a flame (in your heart)

by kyungsuper



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Demon!Chen, M/M, except it does, jongdae is curious like ryuk is curious in death note, lifelong familiar, siren!Kyungsoo, there's a whole lore i'm creating off the top of my head here, there's no way this can end well, witch!Baekhyun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2020-02-12
Packaged: 2021-01-16 00:46:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21262328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyungsuper/pseuds/kyungsuper
Summary: Baekhyun accidentally Summons Chen, Third Prince of the Third Circle of the Underworld, Lord of Lightning as his lifelong familiar during his Approval ceremony. Things go from bad to worse to okay again (in that order).





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This, ladies and gentlemen, is the first of my projects for NaNoWriMo 2019. I have literally no plot, and only a brief idea of the lore. I'm making it work. I don't know how long it's going to be, it might be hella long or it might be a short boi. Whom knows. Buckle in, kids. 
> 
> Also, nothing is edited, because editing is forbidden during November. Apologies if nothing makes sense, I'm mostly writing at, like, 1am.
> 
> Title from 'I don't want to set the world on fire' by The Inkspots (a truly amazing song). Here's the [Spotify playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4ee5eGmptJ728kYKnwy0xh?si=N0bxfV5BRxOIynB6ThOJ6Q) for the titles of my chapters! There's some honest BOPS in there. Give the genre a try!

The Summoning had been going, up until now, according to plan. The Circle had been drawn with the utmost of precision, and Baekhyun had muttered the spell under his breath about fifteen times before he actually said the incantation for real. He had the right runes on his wrists and neck, his robes were _at least_ two inches clear of the floor (you don’t want to smudge the Circle lines with your robes, honestly, what a rookie error that would be), and most importantly, he had used the most perfect smudge stick he’d ever made with his own two hands. There was _absolutely no reason_ that the Summoning should go wrong.

Right now, though, Baekhyun watches the hazy human-shaped demon in front of him tilt its head to the left as if passing judgement on him. Everything had been going perfect, goddamnit! Why was it right now that his bad fortune had to cash itself in?

“State your name,” Baekhyun’s professor demands abruptly from somewhere behind him. The demon doesn’t take its eyes off of Baekhyun when he answers.

“I am Chen, Third Prince of the Third Circle. I am the controller of storms and lightning.” Baekhyun shudders as he answers; the voice that comes from the demon is soft, low, unthreatening. It’s the fact that the tone is even and quiet that makes the whole situation that much more bizarre - usually, demons were all about the intimidation tactic.

“Child,” the professor calls to Baekhyun, who is frozen in his part of the Circle. He daren’t turn his back on the being that he has summoned. “What exactly did you put into the smudge stick?”

“White sage,” Baekhyun whispers. “And cedar.”

“Why did you Summon a - a third Circle demon?”

“I didn’t mean to!” Baekhyun responds in a whisper-shout.

Chen narrows his eyes slightly in amusement before huffing. Some of the Underworld smoke, thick and cloying, billows out from around his figure. He’s becoming more and more solid with each passing minute, Baekhyun thinks. Shit.

“I answered your call,” he comments in a low drawl. “I’m not sure why you’re acting like you’re surprised I am here.” His mouth turns up slightly at the corners, his cat-like eyes flitting between Baekhyun’s face and the protective rune on the side of his neck.

“This is an Approval ceremony,” Baekhyun comments in a near-whisper.

“Are you aware of what one of those is?” This time, it’s his professor who asks, though the demon’s eyes never leave Baekhyun.

Chen rolls its eyes. “Sure. Once your human witches reach the age of enlightenment, they summon a demon to be their lifelong familiar.”

“I swear I didn’t mean to summon a third Circler, I checked and double checked everything! I didn’t smudge the Circle, the incantation was perfect!” Baekhyun protests, the panic in his voice making itself known. He tries to get a hold on himself - panicking in the Circle during his own Approval could lead to death, or worse. Especially when he has just pulled forward the third most powerful demon in the freaking Underworld.

“Your call was heard, witch,” Chen informs him, tilting its head to the side again. He reminds Baekhyun of a predator, a big cat perhaps, studying its prey before it pounces. “It was heard throughout the Underworld. I answered, simply put.”

“Why?” Baekhyun asks, somewhat terrified of the answer.

“I was curious.”

What a simple, honest answer. How it strikes fear deep in Baekhyun’s heart. What would a third Circle demon prince want from a young witch?

“Well. Um. Thanks? For responding? But I’m going to send you back,” Baekhyun tries, attempting to make his voice sound stronger than he feels. He’s already feeling for the edges of his world and Chen’s in his mind when the demon itself chuckles.

“Send me back?” it asks, laughter in the voice. “You can’t send me back. You Summoned me - the contract was plain. You wanted a familiar for life, as per the terms and conditions of an Approval ceremony. And here I am.”

Baekhyun gapes. He even hears his professor gasp slightly from behind him.

“Um.” he replies. Eloquent, Byun. Real smooth.

“You can finish the incantation whenever you want,” Chen prompts, smirking slightly. “My feet are aching standing so still in this tiny Circle.”

Baekhyun is pretty sure a couple more ‘um’s break out of his mouth while he gestures wildly with his hands for a second, before one of the runes on his right wrist warms. It’s telling him that now is the time to finish this. He sighs deeply, hanging his head for a second or two before he looks up again and makes eye contact with Chen. Chen, prince of the Underworld. Third in line for the throne. Now his lifelong familiar. What the _fuck_.

The incantation is simple, impossible to mess up, really. Baekhyun gets through it without much fanfare. It basically binds the demon to him, allows the demon to take a real, solid human form permanently. Means that Chen cannot harm him in any way, intentionally or otherwise. Once he is done, he clenches his outstretched hands into fists, watches how Chen’s form solidifies and the Underworld smoke clears from the Circle slowly. Observes Chen reaching out with one hand. Sighs again before reaching out his own to take it, sealing the spell.

He reaches his foot behind him to where he knows the border of the Circle lies and rubs the sole of his shoe through the chalk there, breaking the line. Ending the Summoning.

Chen smiles and rolls its shoulders then stretches up onto its toes. Probably getting used to a human body. Jesus.

“I think we’re done here,” Baekhyun’s professor puts in abruptly, and Baekhyun drops the demon’s hand quickly. “Byun, get your familiar up to your room and fill it in. Classes start in one week, nine am sharp. _Do not_ be late.”

Chen waits until the professor leaves before it stalks out of the ruined Circle. It can’t bind the demon within it’s lines anymore - the spell is cast.

“So,” Chen starts. “What’s the plan?”


	2. Chapter 2

He didn’t want to turn his back on the demon, but Baekhyun had to lead it to his dorm apartment, which is (unfortunately) halfway across campus from the Summoning suite. Yes, his university is rich enough to have it’s own fancy Summoning suite instead of just a corner of a classroom or hall or something. It makes for a nice quiet environment when one is trying their best to concentrate on the spell at hand.

Baekhyun trudges down the darkened paths with the demon behind him, whose footsteps are so silent that he has to keep turning around to check that it’s still following him after all. The only expression on Chen’s face is quiet curiosity, and Baekhyun catches it looking around at the few people that are still up at this time. They seem to be able to sense the dark aura around Chen and shuffle past quickly, heads down and gaze averted. A few of them even clutch their bags and coats about them as they rush away, and Baekhyun sighs again. Awesome. Just awesome.

“Where do you live?” Chen asks, still in that low, measured voice. Baekhyun still starts as if the demon has yelled the question in his ear.

“On the other side of campus,” he answers unwillingly. He’s torn between feeling paranoid enough to not want to tell the demon anything and knowing that it’s futile. He’s going to know within the next fifteen minutes where Baekhyun lives, anyway. “It might be a bit of a distance away from theSummoning suite, but it’s a quieter side of the uni.”

Chen hums as if it’s digested the words. Baekhyun can’t figure out if that’s a good thing or not.

“I’ll need to ask you a few questions about how this whole ‘lifelong bond’ thing works nowadays,” Chen muses; Baekhyun turns his head slightly so that he can catch Chen’s expression in his peripheral. “It all seems so different in the Upperworld now, compared to the last time I was here.”

Baekhyun nearly trips over thin air. “When was the last time you were here?”

“I’m not sure,” Chen responds, eyebrows pulled down in the middle as if it’s thinking hard. “There were cars then, but they didn’t look anywhere as streamlined as they do now. Not every house had electricity, either.”

“Jesus,” Baekhyun mutters. That must have been _quite_ a few years ago. Most definitely before Baekhyun was born. Weird.

There’s a lull in the conversation while they press on towards Baekhyun’s room, and by the time they reach the door, the awkward atmosphere between them has reached an all-time high. Baekhyun’s trembling with unease as he pushes the door open, flicks on the light and gestures towards the spare bedroom on the other side of the apartment.

“Your room is through there,” he begins. “My room is to the left. There’s a kitchenette just ahead. This is the sitting area.”

Chen whistles as it leans against the doorframe. “The living quarters are a lot nicer now, too,” it comments. Baekhyun shivers slightly at the reminder of just how long ago Chen had last been here. “I much prefer this to last time.” The demon shuts the door behind him as he steps a little further into the small apartment, and Baekhyun gestures to the sofa, a silent invitation for the demon to sit. They need to talk, even if Baekhyun really doesn’t want to. Chen takes the invitation with an incline of the head, and takes the seat at the far end of the couch. Baekhyun sits as far away from the demon as possible.

“How about we agree on one thing before we start talking?” Chen asks. Baekhyun is immediately wary.

“What?”

Chen chuckles, hands held up as if in surrender. “I was going to suggest that we can take it in turns to ask each other questions, that’s all. There’s no need to look so scared.”

Baekhyun deflates slightly. “Right. Sorry, yeah. That sounds like a good idea.”

“I’ll go first then,” Chen begins. “You look really wigged out right now. Is this the first time you’ve been all up close and personal with a demon?”

Baekhyun scoffs slightly, unable to stop himself. “No, of course not. I’m a witch, I specialise in Summonings. You’re the first… High-ranking demon I’ve met. And never have I allowed a demon outside of my Circle.”

Chen hums again (is this a thing that it does?) “Makes sense, I guess. What’s your question?”

Baekhyun knows immediately what he wants to ask. “What do I refer to you as? Like, you introduced yourself as Lord Chen, Third Prince and so on. I hope you don’t expect me to just call you that the whole time.”

“No! Of course not, you don’t need to use the full title,” Chen answers, mirth present in the upturned corners of its mouth. “Just Chen is fine. Although, I guess that’s my Underworld name. I know a lot of humans don’t like calling demons by their Underworld names.”

“There’s a lot of power in a name,” Baekhyun agrees. “Sometimes it’s more comfortable for us to call demons by another name. What would you prefer to be called?”

Chen thinks for a second, obviously considering the myriad of options for names. “Last time I was here, I chose the name Jongdae. I liked it. You can call me that.”

“Sounds good.” Baekhyun mumbles. Jongdae - a male name. It _was_ easier to use gendered names while in the Upperworld, he supposed. He had been thinking of Chen as ‘it’ for the entire time they had been around each other. Technically, demons are genderless and take on the gender they prefer in the Underworld. It can differ greatly to how they appear in the Upperworld, though, given a demon’s ability to change its appearance completely.

“What kind of things are lifelong familiars expected to do nowadays?” Chen asks, leaning forward on the sofa slightly. “Before, we used to fight battles for our witches. Then it changed to becoming a slightly less violent protector.”

“Um. Well, I mainly just go to class, practice my spells, and hang out with my friends. There’s not really a whole lot of adventure that needs you to be my protector or fight battles.”

Chen studies him for a moment. “Well, even though that’s a little more boring than what I’m used to, I guess it makes sense. Everything seems a lot calmer nowadays.”

Bristling slightly from being called boring, Baekhyun exhales slowly. “How many times exactly have you been a familiar?”

“Well, that’s a loaded question,” <strike>Chen</strike> Jongdae begins. “I’ve been a familiar three times, but only one of those times was I a lifelong familiar. Before you ask, I’d rather not talk about that. It wasn’t amazing, and the human who Summoned me was punished for some rather unsavoury things. It’s a sore point for me, and I’d rather leave it in the past.”

Well, now Baekhyun is just _itching_ to know more. But he can respect the demon’s wishes while Jongdae is being agreeable with him. “Okay, sure. I’ll leave it. What’s your question?”

Jongdae looks thankful, and takes the offered lifeline. “The man who was in the room with us before - a teacher here, I presume. He said your classes start again next week. What are we to do until then?”

Huh. Astute. “Yeah, he was my Summoning and Circles professor. I guess it must be different to other times you’ve been Summoned, but nowadays we’re expected to spend a week getting into the swing of things before we have to go back to normal school, I guess. Figure out how this lifelong companion thing is going to work before we really have to knuckle down into it. It would make sense for us to get to know each other a little better before then, right?” Baekhyun explains slowly.

Jongdae smiles, and this time it’s not a smirk. Its a soft little turn of his lips that kind of surprises Baekhyun, honestly. True, the demon hadn’t seemed resentful of Baekhyun thus far, but still. Demons are reprehensible creatures. Even though Jongdae is bound by the spell that Baekhyun cast across his Summoning, and cannot harm Jongdae or any other humans in the Upperworld (directly or indirectly), they’re still sneaky little creatures that, if you aren’t careful, can make your life utter hell. Pun not intended.

“I guess that does make sense, considering we’re stuck with each other until you die. I’d much rather we manage to get along during our time together on this plane, honestly.”

True, Baekhyun thinks. Maybe, with an attitude like that, he and Jongdae _will_ actually get along okay. Here’s to hoping.

“What else do you want to ask? You humans ordinarily have hundreds of questions,” Jongdae prompts, gesturing for the other to continue with a small wave of his hand.

Baekhyun thinks for a moment. Sure, there are _so many damn questions_ he wants to ask, especially if the demon is being affable. But also, he’s so tired - the spell really took it out of him, and he’s ready to just flop into bed and sleep for the week instead of trying to get on with his familiar.

“You’re not wrong,” he starts. “But I am tired, and I don’t really know if demons feel things like that, but I can imagine if you do, you must be tired too. Is there any pressing information that you feel I need to know? Anything else you want to say? I’m ready to hibernate, honestly.”

Baekhyun doesn’t feel so self-conscious about slipping in a little light humour when Jongdae chuckles at it, low in his throat.

“We can feel sensation and emotion both,” he assures the human. “And it’s true I am fatigued from the effort of transforming into a corporeal shape for your Circle. I would like to establish some rules before we retire, though, if you’re willing.”

“That’s… Actually a good idea,” Baekhyun admits. Damn. He should have thought of that! “For me, I mean. I’m a pretty simple person? So my rules are along the lines of knock before you come into my room, respect my privacy. Clean up after yourself, and whoever cooks doesn’t have to do the dishes that night.”

“Very domestic,” Jongdae grins. “My rules are a little more serious, unfortunately. Please don’t try to pry into my personal business, including the other witches I’ve been a familiar to. If I want you to know, I’ll tell you. I am not here to be your slave, or for you to abuse just to make your life a little more interesting. I am a living being just like you, and I expect to be respected as such”

Well, that’s Officially Alarming. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the bad old days that Jongdae doesn’t want to talk about hold trauma and pain for him, and it’s almost certainly from some horrible things happening. Baekhyun doesn’t want to think that a fellow witch would ever abuse a demon, seeing as demons are the ones who are usually the ones who are known to be cold and evil, and a large part of Witch Law concerns not throwing the same behaviour back at the Underworlders. But. He’s not stupid enough to think that there aren’t some humans that are just sick in the head. If a demon is taken on as a familiar, especially a lifelong familiar, just like the demon is bound by magic not to ever harm the human, the human is bound to not hurt the demon.

But, Baekhyun’s mind supplies. But. In the old days, weren’t the incantations lacking in that last department? Jongdae had said himself that demons were called upon to fight witches battles for them. They were constantly put into the firing line, and there never used to be safety nets for them like there are for humans. Which is kind of appalling, all things considered. Even if Baekhyun is still kind of a tiny little bit scared of Jongdae (it’s not every day that you accidentally call on a freaking Underworld prince to be your freaking familiar), with his easy demeanour and open conversation. Even then, with a little bit of fear still lingering, Baekhyun doesn’t think he could bring himself to lay a hand on the demon. It’s just not in his nature to want to harm anything (even if he has been trained how to do so if he ever finds himself in an unsavoury situation with a creature of the Underworld).

And that’s all kind of eye-opening for Baekhyun. One day, when they know each other better, he’ll have that conversation with Jongdae.

“My incantation covers that, Jongdae,” Baekhyun reminds him softly, not sure how best to reassure the demon - and he never thought he’d be sitting reassuring a demon an hour or two after his own damn Approval ceremony. “Even if I wanted to - which I definitely _don’t_ \- I can’t hurt you, just like you can’t hurt me. You don’t have to worry about that.”

The grin on Jongdae’s face has dropped. His eyes are intense, even if the rest of him seems to be relaxing minutely. “I know that. But, you know, just in case.” He hesitates, and Baekhyun jumps on it.

“Go on,” he presses.

Jongdae sighs. “It wouldn’t be the first time that a witch has gone back on an incantation, is all.”

Baekhyun has a horrifying mental image of some photos his Incantations professor had shown them all during their first semester, illustrating in vivid technicolour just what kind of thing happens to witches who go back on their word. “I won’t. I won’t ever do that.”

Jongdae smiles tiredly. “I believe you, Baekhyun.” Then he sighs and stretches in his seat slightly. “Is there anything else you want to discuss?”

Baekhyun considers. “No, I think we can talk about anything else tomorrow, right? We can sleep on it.”

“Excellent. Then I shall see you in the morning,” Jongdae pushes up from the sofa cushions smoothly, sends Baekhyun a small smile, and makes his way towards the bedroom that Baekhyun had pointed out to him when they first entered the apartment. Baekhyun’s eyes follow the demon across the room, watches him shut the door with a soft click. Doesn’t move until he feels a yawn build up, and even then, dawdles in the kitchen with a glass of water.

What a night. He still can’t believe that he Summoned a freaking demon prince for his Approval ceremony. Even though it’s kind of a coming-of-age thing, where a witch passes enough of his or her studies to reach the stage where the Council deems him or her fit to call forth a familiar for life, Baekhyun kind of feels like he’s not ready. Even though the deed has already been done. It’s truly out of the ordinary for such high-ranking Underworlders to answer the call of a twenty-three year-old witch, asking for his first familiar. Even Jongdae’s appearance in the Circle was unlike anything Baekhyun had ever seen - ordinarily, demons liked to show off by making a big song and dance. You know, lots of smoke, lots of moving shapes in the shadows. Scary voices, hissing, threats to all it can see. The usual. Jongdae had just kind of _poofed_ into existence right in the centre of the Circle, followed by a little bit of Underworld smoke, but that had been about it. He had just stared at Baekhyun until someone spoke. Weird. So unlike the norm.

Baekhyun downs the rest of his glass of water in one, puts the glass in the sink to be tomorrow’s problem, and shuffles to his own room. He changes into his pyjamas on autopilot, climbing into bed with a sigh. He is _so_ damn ready for sleep, but his brain just doesn’t seem to want to turn off. It’s weird, he guesses, knowing that the bedroom across from his, the one that has been empty on purpose for the longest time just for this exact use, now has an actual demon in it. _His_ demon familiar. A third circler, no less. So strange.

There’s also the fact that he has to wake up in the morning and make breakfast for two people instead of one, which is something that he hasn’t had to do since he had a roommate over a year ago. He’d gotten used to living alone by now, and the thought of having a stranger to wake up to is bizarre.

Nonetheless, eventually his exhausted body overpowers his hyperactive brain and Baekhyun drifts off to sleep to the sound of silence in an apartment that he knows will be silent no longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rushed it, okay? I wrote most of it at midnight. Why is Jongdae so sof? What is hAPPENING?!


	3. Chapter 3

Waking up to the smell of burning when you’re used to living alone is a jarring experience. Baekhyun’s mind, groggy from the lingering side effects of the spell from the previous night, doesn’t register the scent to start with, and it’s not until he realises that it must be Jongdae who’s burned something that his body decides to cooperate with his mind. Springing from his bed, Baekhyun just manages to make it through his bedroom door before the smoke detector starts sounding.

“What-?” He blurts, eye widening as he takes in Jongdae kneeling on the work surface, fanning at the smoke detector with an old tea towel. “What happened?”

Jongdae gets down gingerly, reaching over the sink to push open the kitchen window. “I wanted to make some toast, but I couldn’t figure out that contraption you have,” he explains, gesturing somewhat towards the pile of blackened toast on the counter in front of him.

Baekhyun stares for a moment, yesterday’s worry and fear all but vanished in the face of such a truly hilarious scene. The lingering wail of the smoke detector in the background just adds to the hilarity of the situation, and Baekhyun blinks.

“You just set the timer on it?”

Jongdae stares right back for a moment. “Oh.”

The wailing stops abruptly and Baekhyun snorts. “Why didn’t you just use your Hellfire?” Jongdae rolls his eyes.

“I don’t use Hellfire for toasting bread, that’s a waste of energy. I’m trying to learn how to use some of these new electronics that you have now. You might. Erm. You might have to give me a masterclass, to be honest,”

Baekhyun chuckles. “Okay, sure. Throw away that pile of what used to be bread into the bin and I’ll show you how to work the toaster, then we can move onto the coffee.”

With that, Baekhyun sets about showing Jongdae how to set the timer for the toaster (“Really, it all depends on how you want your toast, Jongdae”) and when the demon has mastered that, they move onto the coffee machine. It’s nothing fancy, just one of the cheap ones form the discount electrical store that Baekhyun had bought himself when he moved into this new apartment byhimself, but he can imagine that it could be super confusing for someone who had never seen one before. He teaches Jongdae how to measure out the ground coffee into the top of the machine, how to check there’s filter paper in there, too. Puts the glass pot onto the hot plate below and fills the tank with water from the tap.

“How is the coffee going to be hot?” Jongdae asks, enthralled, when Baekhyun switches the machine on. It hums in the background, a nice neutral type of white noise the makes the kitchen feel calm.

“When it’s switched on, the machine heats the water. The water drips through the coffee grounds and ends up in the pot, see?” Baekhyun points to the tiny droplets of rich coffee starting to drip down to coat the very bottom of the glass pot. “There’s a hot plate under there that keeps the finished product hot. So when we decide we want a refill, it’ll still be find to drink.”

Jongdae nods as if committing this impromptu lesson to memory. “I mean, I really doubted that the ways to make coffee had changed _too_ drastically over the years, but everything else is so different now. The fact that you have all these new gadgets just means that the old ways to do things has been moved around a little. What used to take a little effort to do just now takes a flip of a switch or the push of a button. Strange, right?”

“Maybe not for me,” Baekhyun concedes. “Because I've grown up with it. But yeah, I can see it.”

Jongdae smiles slightly. “Thank you for not being mad at me. Instead, you taught me something new.”

Baekhyun is a little boggled, a little mollified. Since when were demons nice? Since when did demons say _thank you_, for gods sakes? He’d never been more confused in his life, probably.

“You’re welcome.” he murmurs as he turns the handle of the coffee pot just for something to do with his hand.

Jongdae watches him for a moment while he slathers butter onto the toast he had, this time, successfully prepared. “Go on, you can ask,” he prompts. Baekhyun starts.

“What?"

“You’re obviously thinking pretty hard about something. Go on and ask, already.”

Oh. Well. Okay, then. Might as well, if he's been asked.

“Since when did demons say ‘thank you’? Especially to witches. I thought you hated us?”

Jongdae tilts his head to the side slightly, just like he had the previous night when he had first appeared in the Circle. It’s unnerving, feels like he’s staring right through Baekhyun. It’s not a sensation he feels like he likes.

“Demons don’t hate witches. Okay, well, the civilised ones don’t, at least,” Jongdae amends when Baekhyun looks incredulous. “The lower circles are rife with demons that don’t know what manners are, let alone how to be polite in the face of another living or undead being. The rest of us understand the meaning of. Well. _Not_ being assholes in the face of you Upperworlders.” Baekhyun’s disbelief must show plainly on his face, for Jongdae’s eyes widen and he waves his toast around with one hand, the butter knife with the other. “We do! Listen, the upper circles have been dealing with humans since what. It must be around fifty cycles now, right? Got to be, if not longer. We’ve long since come to understand the basic fact that humans have as much right to be in the Upperworld as demons have to be in the Underworld.”

Which is a very good explanation, except what? Cycles?

“What do you mean, fifty cycles? What does that mean?”

Jongdae shakes his head, rolls his cat-like eyes. Stuffs the toast in his mouth and chews slowly. “I would say I’m surprised that they don’t teach you this in your fancy classes, but honestly, I think I’m just disappointed. Why don’t I tell you more over coffee?”

And so they each grab their morning cup of caffeine (Baekhyun adds creamer by the spoonful along with enough sugar to make his teeth ache, while Jongdae just keeps his black), relocate to the sitting area.

“So. A stupidly long time ago, back when my ancestors were running the show down there, the Upperworld reset-”

“Reset?”

Jongdae sighs. Takes a sip of his coffee. Baekhyun does the same. “Yes, as in, the apocalypse happened. Please don’t interrupt.” The last part is said with a wry smile which softens the blow. He takes a chunk out of his toast neatly, and continues. “And within a few years, things started growing again. The civilisation that once stood just kind of… Restarted? Pretty much from the beginning. They went from being nothing more than cave people to establishing their first societies much quicker than they had the first time, and when they reached the peak, they started destroying the world again. And yet again, the apocalypse came. There was nothing left. Until organisms started multiplying and slowly, animals and humans returned.

“Supposedly, because there’s not anyone actually alive nowadays to ask about it, this happened countless times. And every time, the humans would come back with no memory or knowledge as to what had happened before the reset. Every now and then, civilisations would find things that would indicate previous input form one of the worlds before the reset, but they would just assume that their ancestors had done it and move on from there. It was crazy to the Underworld to see. I guess you could kind of say that it was like a mega Groundhog Day?

“Then one day, during this one particular reset where the humans were particularly fond of magic and religion, someone figures out where the veil to the Underworld was and managed to Summon a demon to them. It was risky, as you can imagine - they didn’t have the knowledge that you do, about how to protect yourself, about how to cast the spells properly. But the demon that was Summoned was so surprised and curious that he didn’t even think to escape. He listened to the petty things that the human asked of him (to bless his crops, to bless his children, to bring rain to the drought-ridden land) and used his own powers to provide some of these things. It wasn’t until the reset after that that the demon was Summoned again, and this time, he actually told the human about what was happening in the Upperworld. He provided proof to them, and after a while, they decided to believe him. And there we go, that was the start of what you do now, I guess.”

Baekhyun honestly didn’t know what to fucking _say_. What the _fuck_?

“Are you telling me,” he says in a low voice, breakfast forgotten. “That the Upperworld just. That humans _kill the earth_ and then everything starts again, from the beginning? And that every time we come back, we have no idea that we’ve already been here god-only-knows how many times before, doing the exact same fucking thing?”

Jongdae blinks. “Well. Yeah, that’s kind of it in a nutshell, really.”

“What the _fuck_.”

Baekhyun puts his mug on the coffee table and tears off a chunk of cooling buttered toast with his teeth, sinking backwards into the couch cushions. Baekhyun.exe has closed unexpectedly. Reboot and try again later.

Jongdae looks amused in the face of Baekhyun’s complete mental shutdown. “I’ve lived through one reset myself, and things really did just start again from scratch. Humans destroyed the Upperworld with their technology, and then they destroyed themselves. Eventually, everything began again.”

Baekhyun leans forward again. “Wait, you said that every time the world resets, we find weird things that we just assume our ancestors built. Is there anything like that in this - I don’t even know what you call it?”

“We call it a cycle,” Jongdae tells him, sipping down some more coffee. “Yeah, you all just go ‘oh huh, that’s weird, we don’t know how that could be there. Must have been put there by people before history was recorded, right?’ So for this cycle, for example, there are a few things that have popped up that you humans just don’t quite get that are from previous cycles. There’s this one case of _very_ futuristic hieroglyphs from Ancient Egypt, helicopters and stuff - except it isn’t from Ancient Egypt, because Ancient Egypt in the cycle didn’t have hieroplyphs like that. But the last cycle did, and Ancient Egypt wasn’t so ancient. Their culture pretty much just continued and continued up until the point of apocalypse. And things like that just remain where they are, and humans don't quite know how to process it so they put it down to 'the limitations of non-recorded history'.”

Baekhyun doesn’t quite know what to think about that. Just what the fuck? “Huh. That’s actually super weird.” Then Baekhyun thinks about how Jongdae actually worded it. “Wait. You said you’re not surprised that I don’t know about this, but that it isn’t taught at schools. So does that mean that there are humans somewhere who _do_ know about this whole thing?”

Jongdae studies him for a second before he answers, taking a swig of his coffee. “Yes, of course. The people in power here all talk to the demons in the Underworld to find out all sorts of things. We can pop up anywhere at any time in the Upperworld, right? If we really want to, we can just… Take things in. This can be valuable for the leaders of your world, I imagine, because they feel that they have demon spies. They find out things that only a demon can find out for them. Why do you think there are so many countries blaming each other for things? It’s so much easier to blame a country you don’t like for something you only suspect they’ve done, or are doing, when a demon can tell you that they’re _actually_ planning on doing it. There are so many countries that hide their innermost workings from the rest of the world, right? That kind of information can be really, really valuable for a world leader.”

“So you spy on hard-to-reach places for the governments across the world for… What reason, exactly?”

Jongdae smiles slightly. “It gives demons something to do, right? The lower circles, anyway. They can earn their keep to the Underworld crown as well as the Upperworld people all at the same time. If they go and run an errand for someone important up here, it doesn’t just give them a good reputation here. Contrary to popular belief, the Underworld doesn’t want to fight against you; war uses too many resources, and we’ve only ever fought against humans when you pose a real risk to us. Most of the time, you delude yourselves into thinking that you’re stronger than you really are, and that is just fine with us. It’s easier to sit there and play along, right?”

Well, that explains a lot. Wars between demons and humans are, thankfully, few and far between now. There used to be a time where they truly used to go to war often. Those wars were brutal, wiping out a lot of both the demon and the human population, and Baekhyun knows that nobody nowadays ever wanted to see anything like that. The history books showed enough horror and bloodshed for everyone to be scared of that outcome; no, now, it was humans who went to war against each other instead.

And damn, isn’t that just sad? Going against your own kind?

The two sit in silence for a few more minutes, while Jongdae finishes off his breakfast and Baekhyun picks at his toast, sips slowly at his coffee. Honestly, he has just taken in so much information in one go that he doesn’t even feel like his brain can process any more. He needs to do something, anything normal so that he can feel even remotely like his normal self.

“Hey,” he starts, waiting until Jongdae looks up at him, eyes curious. “I think. Well. I think you’ve given me an information overload this morning. Do you want to go out for a walk in a little while? I can give you a tour of campus so that you know where to go if you. Well. If you ever want to go somewhere on your own?”

There’s a brief look of surprise on Jongdae's face before he softens it into a smile. “Yes, that sounds like a nice idea. It would be helpful to know my way around at least this small part of the new Upperworld.”

Sigh. He has such a weird way with words.

“Yeah, okay then. I’m going to jump in the shower and get rid of these leftover runes and I’ll meet you in half an hour?” But oh, then he thinks of something. “Wait, do you need to borrow some clothes or something? I just realised that you’re still in the same things you were wearing yesterday.”

The demon’s eyes crinkle up. It’s strangely endearing. Maybe this was the demon’s game, trying to get him to not be scared of him by acting soft and unthreatening.

“That would certainly be nice,” he acquiesces. “And if you could show me how to work your shower, that would be lovely. I tried to look at it this morning, but gave up when I realised that I couldn’t work the various knobs and taps.” He laughs a little at that, a small ‘ha-ha-ha’ that seems so _human_ that Baekhyun forgets momentarily that he’s talking to a freaking prince.

“Oh. Yeah, sure, follow me on through.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 200% wrote this in the middle of a crazy writing sprint at 2am yesterday and it's mostly weird filler and new! and improved! lore, but sure, we'll roll with it. Gives some info about stuff anyways, right?
> 
> The hieroglyphs that I mentioned are [a real thing](https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/1046289/Egypt-time-travel-proof-alien-pyramid-modern-technology-spt), which is insane, but historians reckon they were caused by old hieroglyphs being plastered over and edited. Still funky, though, Egypt was wild.
> 
> Thanks for all your kudos and kind comments, guys! It's so lovely to read stuff like that when you're feeling weird about your project. You're the best!


	4. Chapter 4

The two of them take it in turn to shower, Baekhyun going first so that he can dig around in his closet in an attempt to find some clothes that will fit Jongdae properly. He settles on some jeans and a shirt, grabbing one of his less used jackets from the back of the closet just in case. Honestly, there are so many things that he’s learning about demons from Jongdae - he’s only now starting to wonder if they feel things like the cold, or if the Hellfire in their veins burns hot enough that they’re pretty much always comfortably warm. It’s not a detail that his university thinks is important to teach them, he guesses.

Even though he hasn’t got anybody to impress, he does spend a few minutes taming his hair into something that is somewhat respectable and picks out one of his nicer coats. By the time Jongdae is finished and changed into the sweater and jeans combination (they fit okay, he guesses. Slightly too wide across the shoulders, and he requests a belt to stop the jeans from falling down his narrower hips), Baekhyun is ready to go, juggling his keys around from hand to hand while he tries to think of a few places that he could show Jongdae that might come in handy for him later.

“Thank you, Baekhyun,” Jongdae startles him with a soft voice from the doorway to the bathroom. “I certainly plan on getting some new clothes for myself as soon as possible, but it was very kind of you to think of such a small detail, in the grand scheme of things.”

“Oh.” Is it really that small a detail? He would have thought to ask if Jongdae were a human friend of his staying overnight, but. There it is. He guesses that other humans, other witches to be exact, aren’t used to substituting human needs for demon needs. Maybe it’s a thing other witches didn’t think mattered when they were the ones who had Jongdae as a familiar. “It’s no problem!”

A chuckle, then: “Nonetheless, I appreciate it.”

Baekhyun smiles back slightly, heaving himself off the sofa. “Let’s go, then. Are there any places that you normally like to. I don’t know. Visit? Like, I don’t really know what the Underworld is like, just because no witch has been there to tell us. So I don’t know if you like parks or coffee shops or something.” The back of his neck heats slightly as he rabbits on, and here it is, hello mouth, my name is foot and I’m coming your way. Thankfully, Jongdae humours him.

“Well actually, witches _have_ been to the Underworld - it’s just been a super long time since that happened, so it makes sense that the community either forgot that it used to happen, or they’re forbidden to talk about it. Probably the latter. But yes, we do have gathering places in the Underworld, they’re just not the same as here. My speciality is lightning, so I tend to like open spaces; maybe a park would be nice? Somewhere quiet.”

Bless. He really didn’t seem to call attention to the fact that Baekhyun just babbled his way through a simple question, which was nice.

“We have a little area on campus, but it’s not really an open space. There is a park a few block over, though, just off campus that I can show you? So if you ever want to chill out there, it’s really not that far. And there’s a few coffee shops that are nice to go to if you just want to spend some time relaxing over a nice drink and a snack. Most of the places on campus can get kind of loud, which sucks sometimes when you want a bit of solitude but you’re fed up of being in your room by yourself.”

Jongdae nods. “They both sound very pleasant,” he begins, adjusting the sleeves on his borrowed jacket. “Are you sure you’re okay with showing them to me?”

Baekhyun is_ confused_. “Am I okay -? Why wouldn’t I be?”

“In the past, demons weren’t allowed to leave their witch’s side is all,” he shrugs, looking slightly embarrassed. “Unless they were to be banished, and that would be in punishment.”

Before the Approval ceremony, Baekhyun would have been able to drum up all sorts of strange and horrible things a demon familiar could do that would warrant a banishment, but after being around Jongdae for a few hours, he doesn’t quite understand just what the other could do that would make him angry enough to punish him like that. Maybe he shouldn’t be judging a demon before he’s had a chance to really get to know him, but the truth is that Jongdae seems like he has a nice enough personality, likeable even. It’s hard to imagine himself being so scared of this demon just the night before, after sitting down and actually talking to him. And that's kind of scary, wow. 

“Well, I’m not showing you around campus to show you the places I could _banish_ you to if I’m unhappy. Familiars don’t have to be around the witch that Summoned them all the time, right? So the way I see it is, if you ever feel like you just want to get out and about, do something different, Hell, just spend some time on your own - then you can, and you won’t get lost in the process.”

Jongdae looks a little cowed, standing there in Baekhyun’s clothes with a bemused look on his face. It’s like he almost doesn’t believe him.

“Well. That’s. Right then. Um.”

Baekhyun snickers despite himself, reaching behind him to the front door, turning the handle. “Come on, let’s have a walk around.”

And once they really start having a wander about campus, Jongdae starts to relax, open up a little to conversation. They talk about the Circle Baekhyun had drawn the night before, and Jongdae divulges a little about things he’s seen throughout the years. The different Circle design trends that had come and gone, some eras preferring a more minimalist design, others flaunting decoration and filigree that truly has no use. It’s kind of like fashion trends, he insists as they stand in the queue in Starbucks, except they don’t come around as often as clothes fashion changes.

“I’m serious!” He exclaims, a little louder than he probably means to be, and a few people at the tables closest to them turn around to stare for a second. He flails a hadn’t for a moment. “Around four hundred years ago, people liked to use gold leaf to dust the runes into the very centre of the Circle. It has _literally no use at all_, and of course it was extremely expensive, so it was all just a statement, a ‘look-how-much-money-I-have-to-waste’ moment for the humans. They only did it when they had company, and when it was just them, they used any old normal chalk.”

Baekhyun raises his eyebrows when Jongdae shakes his head. The cashier takes that moment to get their attention.

“What can I get you today?” He asks, bored, and Baekhyun grins suddenly.

“Kyungsoooo,” he singsongs, “I’ll get my regular, to go. And, um. Jongdae? What kind of thing do you like?”

Kyungsoo turns slowly to stare unblinkingly at Jongdae. Baekhyun knows what it’s like to be on the receiving end of that strange look, and feels for Jongdae slightly, though the demon doesn’t show any of his discomfort if he is feeling any.

“What’s the difference between a flat white and a latte?” He asks Kyungsoo, who narrows his wide eyes slightly while Jongdae stares up at the menu boards behind him.

“Finally, Baekhyun brings a friend with him who asks the important questions,” Kyungsoo deadpans. “A flat white is served in a smaller cup with whole milk, whereas a latte is served in a tall cup with semi-skimmed or skimmed milk. The coffee-to-milk ratio is different this way, you see, so the flat white ends up being a stronger coffee.” He pauses and writes Baekhyun’s name on his latte cup, passes it to the barista wordlessly, then turns back to Jongdae. “It all kind of depends whether you like the taste of coffee, or whether you just come in to waste your money on what essentially becomes a cup of sweetened milk with a tiny drop of espresso in it that Baekhyun likes to call a 'bastardised latte'.”

Jongdae hums like this all makes complete sense to him, and Baekhyun, stuck between feeling amused and affronted, watches Kyungsoo watching Jongdae make his decision. He turns to Baekhyun and widens his eyes as if to say ‘where did you find this one?’ Baekhyun wonders just how the hell he’s going to explain why he's freaking becoming friends with the demon he summoned for his Approval.

“I’ll have a flat white, then, please,” Jongdae asks politely. Kyungsoo nods and his expression warms as if he has made his mind up that he likes the demon based purely on his Starbucks order, and jots Baekhyun’s name on a much smaller takeaway cup.

“That’s six seventy-five,” he tells Baekhyun flatly, pointing towards the card reader. The witch immediately falls into a pout.

“But Kyungsoo,” he needles. “I thought we were best friends? Can’t I get this for free?”

He feels Jongdae tense beside him slightly, but before he can turn and ask what’s up, Kyungsoo throws him a scowl. Not for the first time, Baekhyun thanks his lucky stars that Kyungsoo isn’t a Gorgon because his looks would quite literally kill.

“_Your friend_ can have his cup for free, seeing as he drinks coffee like a normal person” he bargains. “You still pay your three sixty.”

Baekhyun breaks out what Chanyeol calls the ‘ultimate puppy dog eyes’ and turns them on Kyungsoo shamelessly. “No staff discount?” At that, Kyungsoo leans over the counter and plucks Baekhyun’s hoodie between his finger and thumb, studying the fabric for a second before letting it fall back against his chest. Jongdae shudders next to him. “What are you doing?”

“Checking for a name badge,” Kyungsoo snarks. “Three sixty, and because I’m being nice, I’ll even scan your loyalty card.”

Baekhyun sulks as he pays, still throwing a temper tantrum when he guides Jongdae to the drink collection counter. Kyungsoo chuckles lowly behind them. It’s only when Baekhyun drops his wounded expression, realising his friend is no longer looking at them, that he realises that Jongdae is shaking lightly and his irises have a ring of red around them.

“Hey,” he prompts quietly, kind of concerned and kind of freaked out at the same time. “What’s up? Jongdae?”

The demon jolts, eyes widening slightly as he looks at Baekhyun as though he’s seeing him for the first time. “Hmm?”

“Are you okay?” Baekhyun reiterates. “You’re shaking. Are you cold?”

“Oh.” Jongdae looks down at his quaking hands with something like surprise. “Sorry, no, I’m not cold. I just. Um. Can we get our drinks and find somewhere we can sit?”

Baekhyun frowns. “Are you not feeling good?” He has no idea what to do in the face of a strange demon illness.

Jongdae tries for a smile. “I’m fine,” he insists. “Just want to sit down for a bit.”

“Okay,” Baekhyun reassures him slowly. “We can go sit in that park I told you about, is that okay?”

Jongdae nods, then nudges Baekhyun forward as his name is called.

They meander down the path to the park in silence, taking sips of their coffee as they go. Baekhyun leads them to a lonely bench on the side of the field, trees at their back. He sweeps some fallen leaves off the bench seat and they sit down. He allows Jongdae his silence for a few more minutes before he snaps.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” He prompts. Jongdae hums low in his throat, bringing his coffee cup to hold in his lap.

“It’s just. It’s kind of embarrassing? But I guess it _is_ something you should know,” he reasons seemingly with himself, not meeting Baekhyun’s eyes. “How much do you know about how demons react to being Summoned as familiars? Especially lifelong ones.”

Woah, not where he was expecting this to go. Okay, then.

“Not a lot,” he admits. “It’s not something they teach in the classes. The demons of old used to feel the emotions of the witches that Summoned them, apparently, but my professor says that’s more like an urban myth. Why?”

Jongdae nods as if he was expecting this answer, wringing his hands around his paper cup. “Well, first of all, that’s not really that far-fetched. Despite the fact that humans apparently think that demons are awful beings that don’t have emotions, demons and their witches can get close enough that they truly do develop a bond like that, but it hasn’t happened in a very long time. Maybe that’s why it’s now taught as though it’s a complete myth.” He takes a deep breath. “Truthfully, familiars feel protective over the witch that called them, and this is so new, and I didn’t know that guy that you were talking to and it just made me freak out a little, I’m so sorry, I know it sounds super weird and probably really domineering. I just. It’s very new.” He finishes with a cringe. Like this, waiting to see if Baekhyun is mad at him, he doesn’t look much like a prince of the Underworld. He looks like any other twenty-something that Baekhyun would befriend.

“It’s okay,” Baekhyun says. “I didn’t know, well, any of that, so thanks for telling me. But also, I don’t want you to think that you have to hide things like this from me. I think I’d actually prefer to know? Other than the fact that demon-human familiar bonds are interesting, which is kind of one of the reasons I decided to study it at all, we _are_ stuck together. I don’t want to think that either of us are hiding anything important. We can be friends, right? Friends don’t hide their feelings or lie to each other, right?”

This is what it takes to get Jongdae to look top from his cup, look Baekhyun in the eye. He looks shellshocked, as though this was in no way going like he was expecting it to, and Baekhyun is kind of sad about that. What must the humans he had known previously had been like, to make Jongdae scared to talk about weird things that are caused. By the spell that Baekhyun had cast?

“I - are you sure that it’s okay?” He presses. “It’s. It’s weird, isn’t it? And I didn’t meant to react at all in the coffee shop, Ipromise. I wouldn’t have done anything. Is it really okay?”

“Jongdae,” Baekhyun cuts through. “It’s truly okay. I _want_ you to tell me the truth, and you can ask me anything that you want to ask, too, if that helps.” He offers, hoping the expression on his face is open and reassuring.

Jongdae hesitates, but trudges on. “The man in the shop, you called him Kyungsoo. He’s your friend?”

Baekhyun chuckles. “Yeah, we’ve known each other since middle school, he’s my best friend. Practically grew up together. He might act like he hates me, but really, we’re close.”

“I see.” If anything, Jongdae looks even more mortified, which hadn’t been Baekhyun’s intention at all.

“What made you feel - well. How _did_ you feel?” He prompts.

“Possessive,” Jongdae answers immediately, voice low. He looks upset with himself. “Protective. Even before, in the shop, I could tell that you knew each other, but my instinct was to. I don’t know, I _don’t even know_. Do something. I didn’t like it when he touched your shirt.” He frowns, gaze focused back on the plastic lid of his coffee again.

Oh boy. “Is that a part of the whole ‘lifelong familiar’ thing, too?” Baekhyun questions softly.

Jongdae chances a glance up at Baekhyun’s face. “Yes, it is. It’s stupid. I _feel_ stupid, especially when you didn’t act like he hurt you, like you even expected it. You looked upset with him on the outside, but you didn’t seem upset with him.”

“I’m not,” Baekhyun confirms. “This is just how we are. He likes to pretend he has no feelings, and I like to tease him about it. I also think it’s hilarious that he works in Starbucks, of all places.”

Jongdae tilts his head to one side, eyebrows turning down in the middle. “Why is that funny?”

Baekhyun snickers. “Look at the logo on your cup,” he orders, waits until Jongdae has done so, until the demon looks back at him, confused even moreso. “The logo is a siren. And Kyungsoo is half siren. Seriously, you couldn’t make this shit up.”

Jongdae’s face changes, colour comes back into it as he reluctantly laughs along gently. They sip at their coffees for a few more minutes, allowing the tension to dissipate.

“And you’re really not upset?” Jongdae asks, just to be sure.

Baekhyun smiles.

“I’m really not.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I blurted this out in a massive [Harry Potter crawl](https://forums.nanowrimo.org/t/extreme-harry-potter-crawl-house-cup-competition-2019/39864) and I think it makes a little more sense than the previous chapters because we're finding out more about Jongdae, but also we met Ksoo and that makes me ridiculously happy. The first part of the chapter was an attempt at a Fifty Headed Hydra (writing 500 words in 5 minutes) that I failed at, but still. I wrote like 1k in 20 minutes. Almost a personal best.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: this chapter contains very vague descriptions of past physical abuse, and hints at past emotional manipulation. Jongdae's working through it <3

By the end of the week, the two of them have come to a sort of understanding - Baekhyun is not a morning person, so Jongdae makes coffee as quietly as he can until Baekhyun has snoozed his alarm to the max and finally realises he has to get up. Jongdae sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night to sit and manifest lightning in the sitting area, and Baekhyun is categorically Not Allowed to interfere or watch. They try their best to give each other as much privacy as possible, and so far, Baekhyun wants to tentatively say that they’re getting along well.

The issue is that Jongdae is nothing like what Baekhyun was expecting; he’s always been taught that demons are sticky creatures, full of sin and temptation, born to wreak havoc and distress. That being Summoned as a familiar allows a witch to keep a tight control over the demon. That they have to _break_ them for the relationship to work. They can never be friends. They can never see eye-to-eye. The demon is there to serve the witch.

But Jongdae doesn’t behave anything like his textbooks say he should. He’s so painfully _human_ that sometimes, Baekhyun even forgets how they met in the first place. Jongdae is a true wealth of information, spilling things every now and again that Baekhyun has to stop and really think about to even make sense of everything he’s discovered in the last week; things about runes (“you really don’t _need_ that one, Baekhyun, it doesn’t do anything! Truly, it’s purely aesthetic!” and “if you draw that with a wobbly line, it makes demons think they can walk all over you. Poor penmanship is taken seriously in the Underworld.” and even “I can’t believe you use an eyeliner pencil to draw your runes on your skin, that’s both odd and genius and I can’t tell which I’m leaning towards more.”), things about human culture, hell, even things about witches that Baekhyun had never known, and he’s been a witch his whole life, thank you very much.

He’s never been mean-spirited, never so much as raised his voice in Baekhyun’s presence. There have been a few moments of disagreement - especially when it comes to Baekhyun’s love of takeout when Jongdae would prefer a nice home cooked meal - but nothing scary or worrying. Baekhyun had given himself a stern talking-to by their third day together, telling himself not to be convinced by whatever Jongdae was trying to do by appearing so agreeable, but he had already fallen into the trap of feeling content with the situation.

Already, it’s almost time for Baekhyun to start attending classes again, this time with Jongdae in tow (if the demon wanted to attend, that is. Baekhyun wasn’t going to force him to if he didn’t want to tag along), and Baekhyun feels strangely apprehensive. The only good thing about the situation with his education is that when a witch reaches their Approval ceremony, it means that they have completed the first two chunks of their studies, and as such, Baekhyun hasn’t missed out on any work. He’s joining a new bunch of witches who also have their own familiars from their own ceremonies to start the next phase of their education together; he’s not yet sure if he knows anybody in his new Summoning course, but at least now he’ll be able to say that he won’t be going in alone.

“What’s the plan today?” Jongdae inquires softly from the floor next to the coffee table - he’s folding a pile of laundry, his new clothes that they had purchased a few days prior. He had insisted on washing them before wearing them. Baekhyun has only ever heard of one person in his life doing something like that, and thinks that if Jongdae can get over his aversion to Kyungsoo, the two of them would probably be best buddies.

Baekhyun hums, looking up from the game he’s been playing on his phone. “Well, we’ve done a campus tour, we’ve been shopping. Is there anything you want to do?”

Jongdae considers this as he expertly folds a hoodie into a perfect square. Baekhyun squints at the injustice of a demon being able to fold clothes better than he can.

“I don’t know. It’s a Friday night, right? What would you normally be doing if I weren’t here?”

Baekhyun chuckles. “Any other student here would party, but my friends just like to hang out and play games and eat pizza,” he admits. “That could be fun, though. The only other person you’ve met on campus is Kyungsoo, after all.”

Jongdae shifts. “Do you think it wise to introduce me to your human friends?” He doesn’t sound accusatory, merely curious.

“Well, they’re going to want to meet you at some point,” Baekhyun reasons. “And it’s always good to know who you can trust to go to if you ever need something, they’re good people. You’d get along. Besides, they’re not all humans,” he teases with a small smile.

Jongdae shrugs, petting the folded hoodie absentmindedly, as if he doesn’t quite realise he’s doing it. “I guess.”

Baekhyun studies Jongdae for a second, putting his phone down on the sofa cushion next to him. Now that he’s looking, _really_ looking, he realises that Jongdae doesn’t just look hesitant. He looks downright uncomfortable at the thought of meeting Baekhyun’s friends.

“It’s okay, you know,” Baekhyun reassures him. “We don’t have to do anything like that if you don’t want to.”

Jongdae shakes his head slightly, looking down at his lap. He smoothes the wrinkles in the fabric of his jeans with his fingers.

“What makes you so hesitant?” Baekhyun asks, wanting to know but also not wanting to trigger unhappy memories.

“What makes you think they’ll like me?” He reposts.

Baekhyun is taken aback for a second.

“Well. I mean, you’re you?”

Jongdae’s dark eyes pry into his.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Baekhyun shrugs helplessly. “We get along fine, don’t we? You’re a nice per- you’re nice,” he catches himself just in time. “And you’re not like the demons I’ve Summoned before. I’m sure you’d like them, and they’ll like you. But I mean it - we don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to.”

The demon blinks, then puts the hoodie on the pile of folded laundry on the coffee table. He takes a deep breath and looks back to Baekhyun again. “I’ve never been met with anything but contempt and hatred by witches’ friends before,” he says, tone low and even. “They’re usually _quite_ keen to see how much you can poke and prod a demon before he snaps. Gives them an even better reason to keep poking and prodding.”

Baekhyun shivers. “My friends wouldn’t do that, Jongdae,” he assures. “They’re good people. They would never harm you. Well, other than the fact that it’s against campus rules, I also wouldn’t let them. We agreed that we would respect each other, right? How about we trust each other a little, too?”

Jongdae snorts, not unkindly. “Demons and witches don’t trust each other, Baekhyun,” he says as though he’s explaining something very simple to a small child. “If we did, your kind wouldn’t be Summoning my kind to a life of servitude, and my kind wouldn’t be trying to always cause you harm.”

Baekhyun leans forward slightly. “Regardless. You and I can trust each other, at least just a little. Just this once, right?”

Jongdae stares him down, hard and unforgiving, dark eyes almost a flat black. Baekhyun thinks he’s struck a nerve with Jongdae, but doesn’t know how to fix it without Jongdae telling him outright what he’s said to upset him.

“Just this once,” he finally agrees, hint of a smile curling the corners of his lips upwards. “I’ll let you introduce me to your friends, then. What rules do you have for me?”

“That’s great, but what do you mean by ‘rules’?” Baekhyun asks, confused.

“You know,” Jongdae starts, waving a hand around to emphasise his point. “Rules. Like, how you want me to look, where you want me to be, whether you want me to talk or not. Do I stand? Sit? Kneel? Do you want me to look at the fl-”

“Woah, woah, woah!” Baekhyun cuts him off, alarmed. “No, I don’t want you to do any of that!”

Jongdae frowns. “What do you want me to do, then?”

Baekhyun slides off the sofa onto the floor in front of Jongdae. He feels it is imperative that he is on eye-level with the demon right now.

“Jongdae,” Baekhyun starts firmly, putting his hands on the other man’s shoulders without thinking; the heat of the Hellfire running through his veins seeps through his sweater, warming Baekhyun’s palms. “I’m not going to give you any _rules_ to follow. These guys are my friends, not the damn High Council. I’m not going to sit here and piously tell you that you have to fucking _kneel_ or that you can’t speak or look up from the _floor_, holy shit,” he babbles, getting more and more angry as he goes on. “You’re a _living being_, and I’m not going to command you like a fucking dog.”

Jongdae stiffens under his touch. “I’m sorry,” he chokes out, eyes flashing gold. He slumps down under the weight of Baekhyun’s hands.

“Jongdae,” Baekhyun sighs. “What’s going on? You don’t have to say sorry, you haven’t done anything wrong.”

“But you’re angry with me,” the demon remarks. And - is he trying to make himself look small? If Baekhyun didn’t know any better, he’d say Jongdae is trying to make himself seem like he’s submitting to Baekhyun.

“I’m not,” Baekhyun assures. “I’m really not angry with you, I’m angry at how you feel like you have to sit on the floor like a domesticated fucking animal in the presence of other humans because my ancestors don’t have any fucking compassion.”

Jongdae chances a look up at Baekhyun’s face.

“I’m sorry, Jongdae” Baekhyun tells him earnestly. “It sucks that you feel put off meeting people because of how you were treated in the past.”

“Why are you sorry? You didn’t do any of those things,” Jongdae shakes his head as he speaks, almost as if he can’t quite believe what Baekhyun is saying. “You haven’t been anything but nice to me this whole week.”

“Well, same back at you,” Baekhyun returns with a smile. They don’t say anything for a second, and when Baekhyun realises that he’s still holding Jongdae in place by the shoulders, his eyes widen. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I’m just-” He pulls his hands back only for Jongdae to capture his wrists with hot palms.

“No, actually, it’s - it’s nice,” Jongdae admits softly. Baekhyun tilts his head to the side and lets his hands be pulled down to rest on the top of Jongdae’s thighs. He wriggles his fingers a little until Jongdae gets the message and drifts his hold down so their palms are pressed together. Baekhyun tangles their fingers loosely. “The bond. I-”

He stops, takes a breath,glances at Baekhyun as though he’s sure the latter is going to rip away from him and scold him.

“Here’s an idea,” Baekhyun says into the silence when it becomes apparent that Jongdae isn’t going to continue under his own steam. “We make some tea, we grab some blankets, we sit on the sofa instead of the cold floor, and you can tell me a little more about the bond from a demon’s perspective so I can understand a little better, hmm?”

Jongdae chuckles. “Yeah, we can do that.” He pauses then, and finally makes eye contact with Baekhyun. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather go out with your friends?”

Baekhyun is already shaking his head before Jongdae can finish the sentence. “We can easily do that another night. And besides, it’s important that we figure out how to put things like this right when they happen. I don’t like leaving things hanging.”

Jongdae sends him a soft smile. The gold is back, a thing ring around his pupils, and electricity crackles in his palms, ticking Baekhyun’s skin slightly as they stand. He lets go of one of Baekhyun’s hands as they potter about the kitchen, Baekhyun making two cups of tea while Jongdae watches over his shoulder, occasionally passing him utensils when Baekhyun asks for them. His other hand is in Jongdae’s tight grasp, and they make it back to the sofa, each holding a steaming mug.

Baekhyun tumbles back into the cushions by way of a controlled fall, pulling Jongdae after him. They sit pressed closely together, hands linked, shoulders and knees just touching as the witch pulls blankets from the back of the sofa down to cover their laps.

“Why don’t you start by telling me why you’ve taken over my hand?” Baekhyun prompts with a grin, wiggling his captured fingers to illustrate his point. Jongdae laughs along for a moment, still seeming hesitant, but turns less so when Baekhyun moves to take the demon’s cup from his hand and places it on the coffee table next to his own.

“I already told you the bond makes me feel different,” Jongdae starts. He trains his eyes on the patterned blanket on his legs.

“Yeah, you said it makes you feel possessive, right?”

“Mhm,” Jongdae affirms. “And protective. It’s like. I don’t know. This feeling in my chest? Kind of like another sense. Makes me want to stick close to you. And earlier, I was… Feeling distressed, I guess. When you came closer to me, it kind of soothed that feeling.”

Baekhyun hums, turning the words over in his head as he tries to understand what Jongdae is telling him.

“Sometimes, it’s not a good thing to feel,” Jongdae pushes on with a sigh. “I’ve mentioned some of my past experiences as a witch’s familiar already. Before you, no witch has treated me with compassion. The fact that the bond wants me to be near that person, that being near them makes me feel better, is _sick_, when you consider what they would do to me sometimes. It doesn’t make sense. I used to be so confused, Baekhyun, when they would have their acquaintances hit me, or shackle me, or force me to manifest lightning or Hellfire for their own selfish amusement. Why would the bond make me feel relieved to be near them even when they’re hurting me?”

Baekhyun captures Jongdae’s other hand with his own, tugging him closer; he doesn’t think the demon realises that he’s begun to shake, and Baekhyun’s insides twist, nausea rising up his throat like climbing vines. His horror must show on his face, because when Jongdae next looks at him, he smiles sadly.

“The fact that you’re sad on my behalf makes me feel better about being here, though,” he assures the witch, and Baekhyun squeezes his fingers with his own.

“How do you know I’m sad?” Baekhyun asks, trying to keep his voice even. He’s not _just_ sad, he’s disgusted, but he doesn’t want to cause Jongdae any more distress right now.

“You reek of it,” Jongdae admits. “Really, it’s okay. It’s in the past, right? You’ve assured me you’re not like that, and your friends aren’t like that either, and I believe you.”

Baekhyun smiles, slightly against his will. Rubs the pads of his thumbs over the back of Jongdae’s hands. The two of them sit like this for a little while as the apartment gets darker around them with the setting sun outside the window. Baekhyun makes to get up to turn the lamp on, but Jongdae shakes his head with a small grin. Baekhyun raises an eyebrow questioningly, only for Jongdae to knock their shoulders together lightly.

“Watch.” He demands in a soft voice, and Baekhyun follows without question. The demon removes his fingers from Baekhyun’s grip and makes a short gesture towards the lamp. His eyes glow bright, brilliant gold for a second, electricity jumping around on the surface of his palm, curling to the tips of his fingers and down his wrist, before one tendril jumps out. A split second later, the lamp clicks on.

“Nice,” Baekhyun comments with his own smile, turning back to face his familiar.

“One of my many talents, you know.”

Baekhyun chuckles at the laughter in his voice, watching as Jongdae hums low in his throat, legs stretching out under the coffee table, remnants of his summoned lightning leaping to sink harmlessly into Baekhyun’s thigh, knee jumping slightly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay y'all. I had a heck of a week - I've written, like, a wHOLE BUNCH of this fic but it's a damn mess, so I've been trying to sneakily edit some bits before I post them. But then I fell over a week ago and injured myself like a big dumbo. Got a bruised bone in my elbow, dislocated my shoulder, bruises everywhere. Big major ouchies. Had to take some time to rest because it Super Hurt Me. But I'm getting back on track! Thanks for your patience and kind words, I love you all <3


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! It's been a really long time, right? Let me explain why I just disappeared off the face of the earth with this fic for 3/4 months: my MacBook died (rip) and it took me until the end of January to get a new one. It was all very sad and frustrating, but Apple pulled through for me and got me a beautiful replacement. Sad news the second, I lost all but the first 13 chapters of this fic, and when I re-read chapters 6-13, I realised that I didn't like them, so I started the long process of rewriting. Apologies! But I should actually be able to upload more frequently now! 
> 
> Chat with me [here](https://twitter.com/Kyungsuper)!

The first feeling that registers to Baekhyun as he slowly wakes up is one of warmth. He doesn’t feel like he slept as badly as he had been for the last few weeks, a mix of anxiety about his Approval ceremony, and then his confusion over Jongdae being approximately nothing like how he was expecting, which is unexpected to say the least; he had been freaking out about starting classes again for most of the previous day.

His alarm hadn’t gone off yet, so Baekhyun decides he’s okay to turn over and doze for a little longer, and it’s while he’s shifting his shoulder slightly that he realises that wait, this isn’t his bed? It’s as he mulls this over sleepily that he realises that there is an arm draped across his waist and the pillow he thought he was leaning his cheek on was freaking _moving_. He braves one open eye and winces.

Because _of course_ it’s Jongdae that he’s fallen asleep on, who he sprawled across like a clingy sloth. Jesus fucking Christ. He winces again, attempts to wriggle out from the demon’s hold, but all he manages to do is bother his new flatmate. Jongdae mumbles under his breath, rolls his head over to face Baekhyun and his eyelashes flutter as he wakes up enough to open his eyes.

“Um,” Baekhyun begins. “Good morning?” He tries to manoeuvre himself out from under Jongdae’s arm, and the demon chuckles awkwardly for a second, tightening his hold on Baekhyun’s waist momentarily before letting him go.

“Sorry,” Jongdae apologises, eyes averted as Baekhyun moves to sit on the other end of the sofa; Jongdae mirrors him, throwing a glance at their cold tea still sitting on the coffee table, almost finished before they dozed off. “I didn’t mean to. You know.”

“Snuggle?” Baekhyun suggests before wincing once again. “It’s okay, I’m kind of a cuddler when I’m asleep, too. But, um. My alarm went off, so I’d better get. Ready for class?”

Jongdae nods woodenly, grabbing the mugs and making his way to the sink. Baekhyun heaves a sigh when he stands, much less gracefully than the demon had, stretching his arms above his head (a truly alarming crack sounds from somewhere within his spine and he wonders if he should be concerned) before making his way into his room to retrieve his clothes for the day. A shower would be in order, followed by maybe a trip to Starbucks for some breakfast. Then class.

Oh Jesus, class. He had almost managed to forget that it would be a whole new set of classmates and a new professor. New content, a new syllabus. New expectations and new stresses. It isn’t until he’s freshly showered, skin pink from the temperature of the water, that he remembers that he had forgotten to even ask Jongdae if he wanted to come to the lesson. The demon has his arms full of freshly laundered clothes, a new towel draped over one wrist, evidently waiting for the bathroom to be free.

“I didn’t even ask,” Baekhyun begins. “It’s kind of expected that familiars either come to class with their witch, or they sit in the common room and do - actually, I don’t know what they do. It’s kind of implied that the witch makes the decision, but i want you to do what you want to do. So, um. Do you want to come with me? If not, it’s okay, I won’t make you sit in the common room, you can go wherever you want. You could stay here, or you could go the park I showed you, or-”

“Baekhyun, it’s okay,” Jongdae interrupts softly. “I’ll come with you, if you’re okay with that.”

Baekhyun smiles, lips moving of their own accord. “Yeah, of course. I just wanted you to have the option. And if you don’t like being in class after the first one, the offer is always open for you to skip. Like I said, I’m not going to make you do anything that you don’t want to do. Just let me know.”

Jongdae’s kitten-like lips twist into a sort of gentle smirk, if a smirk can be described as such. “Okay.”

And then he slips past Baekhyun into the still steamy bathroom, door clicking shut with a soft click, leaving the witch to stand there and ponder just what the fuck his life has turned into recently.

Twenty minutes later, they’re ready to go, dressed comfortably in hoodies and jeans for the chilly morning awaiting them.

“Are you okay with dropping into Starbucks again? I just want to get some breakfast before class, I’m feeling kind of nervous,” Baekhyun admits as they start down the path away from the dorms. Jongdae throws him a curious look, so Baekhyun continues. “It’s the first class in this new section, I guess. I knew the people who were in my course before my Approval, but these are going to be people I may not have met before. And a new professor, too, and you never know if you’re going to like the way they teach until you’re already in too deep and can’t transfer.”

Jongdae makes a small considering noise in the back of his throat, obviously mulling over Baekhyun’s words. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a witch who would just admit to their nerves before. In the past, I’ve been just left in the back of the room while the witches learn, and they were all so overconfident. To the point that there were duels sometimes, just because their egos were so big.” He takes a deep breath as they approach their destination, the green light from the sign already visible in the dim early morning light.

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow at the words. “Well, we’re definitely not allowed to have duels in classes nowadays. But there’s definitely some people like that bound to be in there, and I’m looking forward to that about as much as you are, I’m sure. More to the point, what would you like for breakfast?”

“Whatever you’re having is fine,” Jongdae answers easily as they make their way through the door into the almost empty coffee shop. As always, Kyungsoo is waiting at the till, a professionally bored look on his face, large glasses perched precariously on the end of his nose as he studies, textbook open on the counter in front of him.

“Morning, Soo,” Baekhyun starts sunnily, smiling widely, and then wildly as Kyungsoo looks up; the barista’s face drops into a grimace so suddenly it’s kind of startling.

“Eurgh, it’s you. I had almost gotten used to not having you around. It was nice. Quiet.” He remarks, already writing on a new cup for Baekhyun’s order.

“Can’t let you get too used to the silence, though, right?” Baekhyun prods. “Hey, can we get two cups of porridge with some jam and some, um.” He looks back at Jongdae, lost. “What do you want for your porridge?”

Jongdae casts a quick look around at the almost deserted store before he faces Baekhyun again. “May I have some honey?”

Baekhyun scowls. “Quit it, I don’t want any of that.”

“That what?” Jongdae asks, surprised.

“Master-servant speech. None of that, please. Can we get some honey, Soo? And a flat white for Jongdae.”

Kyungsoo seems almost as lost as Jongdae does, but Baekhyun does notice the appraising look his friend gives him as Jongdae’s confusion morphs into a small smile, shifting in the squeaky soles of his new sneakers behind Baekhyun’s shoulder. The witch puts his hand in his hoodie pocket for his wallet, but Kyungsoo surprises him by waving the hand clutching a Sharpie marker dismissively in his general direction, reaching for another cup for Jongdae.

“Forget it, Byun. Consider this one on me, to wish you luck for your first day at school,”

Baekhyun splutters for a second. “Only you could make a nice, friendly wish sound like a dig, Do Kyungsoo,” he accuses, waving his closed wallet around for a moment before returning it to his pocket. “But thank you.”

Kyungsoo’s lips turn up into the tiniest smile as he moves to the espresso machine. “Don’t expect it every day, you’re still my least favourite customer.”

Baekhyun pouts while Jongdae chuckles quietly, little puffs of warm breath hitting his exposed neck. “You’re so mean to me!”

“But Jongdae is definitely above you in my list,” Kyungsoo continues as if Baekhyun had never spoken at all. “Because he doesn’t chew me ear off all the time about meaningless rubbish, and he also has better taste in coffee and porridge toppings than you.”

Baekhyun can feel Jongdae’s surprise in the way that the demon jerks, brushing against him even as he tries not to move at all.

“I can’t believe you’ve just adopted him yet you still won’t admit that we’re actual friends, Soo, I’m truly hurt. Deeply wounded.”

“Shut up. Collect your drinks, I’ll bring over your food in a few minutes.” Was that a very, very faintblush on Kyungsoo’s cheeks? Hmm.

Baekhyun picks up Jongdae’s coffee and hands it to him, grabs his own latte, and directs his familiar to his usual table, a comfy booth in the corner next to the front windows.

“I wasn’t going to say ‘I told you so’, but I feel like I need to, given last night’s topic of conversation,” Baekhyun starts quietly, gesturing for Jongdae to settle in the chair opposite him. The demon does, hands wrapped around his paper cup like it’s the only thing keeping him grounded.

“I was very surprised,” Jongdae agrees softly, smiling down at his coffee. “I believed you when you said that your friends would be nice, but I don’t think I actually expected it to happen so easily.”

Baekhyun scuffs the toe of his sneaker against one of Jongdae’s under the table. “Also, would you like to tell me why you suddenly turned into some sort of - I don’t know - submissive demon?”

The demon in question’s chin jumps like he wants to hang his head, but his eyes snap to Baekhyun’s and show a surprising amount of emotion. “Its what the world expects. What they want.”

Oh god do his fingers itch, burning to reach across the table and grasp Jongdae’s hand in his own. Instead, he scowls once more and trudges on. “I don’t expect or want it. They can all kiss my ass if they expect me to just have you sit there and be all Oliver Twist ‘please sir may I have some more’.”

Jongdae hums in the back of his throat, eyes flickering from Baekhyun’s face to the witch’s flexing fingers. “I don’t know what that is, but I feel like I need to warn you before your class. Everybody in that room will judge you if I behave like you want me to,”

“Jongdae.” Baekhyun’s anger must be audible in his voice, so he makes a conscious effort to soften his tone. “I don’t _want_ you to behave any which way other than the way that _you_ want to behave. I don’t particularly care if every person in that room hate me for it, but I’m not going to force you into something like you’re some freaking animal. And that’s my final stance on the matter, and I also don’t want to talk about it anymore because it’s making me mad and I don’t want to walk into my new class mad.”

They descend into silence, sipping at their coffees for a few minutes, thanking Kyungsoo when he brings over their food. They eat in relative silence too, and leave the coffee shop side by side. The walk to the block that Baekhyun’s class will be in is tense - Baekhyun can practically sense Jongdae steeling himself for what the demon thinks is going to be a truly awful experience, and Baekhyun is trying not to let it rub off on him, but Jongdae’s words have struck a nerve and he is bristling by the time they select their desk in the corner of the lecture hall. There are only a few other people in there, seeing as they’re a little early, and Baekhyun is unhappy to note that he recognises none of them. Whatever. He isn’t here to make friends anyway, he has an excellent bunch of those already. It isn’t until he’s sat down and started to draw on his magic to Summon his notebook and pens that he notices that Jongdae hasn’t sat down.

He turns his head to find the demon stood behind his chair, head down, eyes cast to the floor; one of the guys on the other side of the room has his eyes trained on Baekhyun’s familiar even though he’s obviously in the middle of a conversation with his friends, a man that is undoubtedly his own familiar standing straight behind his chair, and for some reason, Baekhyun starts to feel a little uneasy.

“Jongdae,” he says softly, twisting around slightly to lay his palm on the demon’s forearm, ignoring the slight jump that runs through his body at Baekhyun’s touch. “Come and sit down.”

Jongdae hesitates, eyes flickering to the guy watching them, before coming to land on Baekhyun.

“Please.”

That does the trick; Jongdae swiftly lowers himself into the seat to Baekhyun’s left, sandwiched between the witch and the wall. Baekhyun smiles encouragingly at his familiar, even when his ears burn, still feeling the gaze of the other man. He tells himself not to care about what they think, pats Jongdae’s hand that rests on the desk once, twice, then allowing his fingers to sketch in the air the runeshe needs for his spell, and Summons his notebook and a pen. He’s just about ready when a group of giggling girls enter the room, followed by their own familiars, and steadfastly ignores their curious stares directed at the demon sat next to him. If this was going to be the norm, it was going to be a long, long day, a thought only proved by a loud and pointed laugh from their fan a few desks over. Baekhyun grits his teeth, fingers clenching in the worn denim of his jeans. Bring it on, he thinks.


End file.
